Castlevania: Dead and Not-Hating It
There was a time in recent memory when Konami’s Castlevania franchise was brimming with life.
Sorry, that’s a lie. The franchise has been in an inconsistent relationship with life and death for nearly two decades now, one fortuitously mimicking the cycle of its central villain, Dracula. But as the title implies, the series has been exclusively in the grave for a hair over ten years now, with no new big-time installments releasing. This isn’t surprising given the inconsistent relationship with video games Konami’s had in recent years, which largely bowed out of making video games with a budget following the very messy departure of Hideo Kojima and closure of the original Kojima Productions.
The original Kojima productions spearheaded the last Castlevania initiative through the Lords of Shadow titles developed by Spanish studio MercurySteam. The company debuted their first effort through the first Castlevania: Lords of Shadow title, which hit several notes Kojima adored. It had star power, with Robert Carlyle voiced Gabriel Belmont, with Natasha McElhone voicing his wife Marie and the venerable Patrick Stewart voicing his accomplice Zobek. The game’s feel was very cinematic, through its aesthetics and soundtrack. The resulting title felt like it was originally designed as a new IP with Castlevania elements slapped in afterward, but that didn’t stop Kojima and others from being impressed. The game found a nice audience, and performed well enough for Konami to green light two follow-ups.
Those follow-ups are where things went wrong. Lords of Shadow — Mirror of Fate, originally made for 3DS before it was ported to then-current consoles, was a massive misfire. The attempt to fuse the old Metroidvania (and IGAvania by extension — we’ll get to those) elements with more cinematic and God of War-inspired gameplay of the original LoS title turned out to be two fine-enough tastes that blended poorly together. This also ended up being an ominous foreboding for Lords of Shadow 2, a serious step down in quality compared to the first game, thanks at least in part to its messy production. It’s a real shame, considering the LoS follow-ups had much stronger connections to the Castlevania franchise by introducing the likes of Simon Belmont, Trevor Belmont, and Alucard. Let’s not get into the story and lore changes, though. That’s another can of worms.
MercurySteam was later chosen as the new developers of 2D Metroid games by Nintendo, the quality of which showed who was largely at fault for the quality of the latter LoS titles.
The disappointing reception to the LoS games was sadly enough to put the series on ice. With LoS2 releasing in February 2014, the franchise has now been dead for a solid decade in terms of brand-new installments with a solid budget behind them. This is notably not including Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls, a mobile game that includes remixed versions of old levels from the old school titles in the franchise and IGAvania games, with Ayami Kojima returning to provide the artwork. The game feels more like a 3D interpretation of Harmony of Despair, considering all the legacy characters and stages. Considering the inconsistent state of mobile games and this title’s nature as a free-to-play game that didn’t hit it big, it’s unlikely to remain alive in perpetuity.
The Castlevania franchise remaining in the grave is unfortunate considering the potential it still holds. Beyond how nice it would be to see more stories filling in the gaps between the Belmont-led installments, and how the series could go further into the future than Aria of Sorrow and follow-up Dawn of Sorrow, there’s still a story that hasn’t been told. We’ll never get that battle of 1999 title now, in which Juste Belmont and crew defeat Count Dracula for good. Not that I’d want to see this with producer Koji “IGA” Igarashi being long gone from the company by now, but it would be nice.
There’s even further potential for the series beyond those. I had a hard time playing through Bloodborne and not seeing how it remains a solid blueprint for a future Castlevania installment with a good budget. The game takes place in a classical European world suffused with gothic horror aesthetics, and abides by a 3D Metroidvania design. It’s a much better 3D Castlevania game than any of the actual 3D Castlevania titles. There’s still demand for a Bloodborne follow-up (or even a remaster, considering the understandable rabidity around it), and Lies of P’s success has confirmed that even games inspired by the title can do well. One of those could be a Castlevania game if Konami believed in the franchise hard enough.
Sadly, they don’t, and I’m not sure if they ever will to the extent the franchise deserves. Spiritual successors fortunately exist, the biggest ones being Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night and the old school-style Castlevania: Curse of the Moon titles spearheaded by IGA himself. There’s a follow-up to RotN in the works, and maybe the franchise could grow enough that IGA might seriously get that opportunity to tackle another 3D game in the future. Not all franchises need to remain alive forever, but it’s a pity when one like Castlevania dies in the way it did.
Well, outside the animated show. At least someone’s keeping the spirit alive.
About The Author
Geoff
News Editor | Geoff is some nerd who writes for a blog and thinks he's knowledgeable. He write a lot about video games, but is capable of writing about other subjects, too. Twitter
